If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I've fallen into the knitting world and really haven't looked back since. Thought I'd post some of my favorite projects here.

This sweater is my newest project and I LOVE it! Made with Magpie Fibers yarn, in her Swanky DK weight. Color is Castaway and is really the loveliest of beiges/taupes. Patter is the Ellison Sweater, which I found HERE on Ravelry.

This years garden is behind from last year but as I strolled through it yesterday, I was thankful for all the plants that come back every year. Thought I'd share some of my favorite things to look at in the Farmer garden.

This cute little bunny (well, let's be honest, this one is probably one of hundreds in my yard at any given time) has been hanging around eating grass and green beans.

My blueberries are almost ready for a good picking, shallots planted last fall will be thrown on a meal soon, and the 10 peas I managed to grow will just end up being snacked on while watering.

I've been seeing this saying around a lot lately. So much that it had me looking into it a bit more. And now I'm obsessed with it. It rings true for me. And probably most of you too.

Rather than worry about what others think, just do what you want. Be who you want to be. Follow your true path to who you are and forget every one else's path. Or forget what others think should be your path.

Finding your inner compass and following where YOU'RE supposed to be headed is a hard thing to do sometimes. I struggle with it...a lot. But slowly, as I've grown in my personal life and business, I've started doing what I want more and more. Not what others want. And you know what? I'm OKAY with that. It feels good. Let go of the direction you're not meant to go in. Follow YOUR true north.

You know those moments as a parent when you are so proud of your children? Their first steps, when they learn to ride a bike, when they catch a ball during baseball with a look of shock on everyones face because they actually caught it? We had a very similar proud moments tonight.

I was sitting on the porch steps playing with my phone (I mean working on my phone. No way was I on Pinterest), the boys were riding their bikes in the cul da sac, and out of the blue, I hear my youngest sing, 'I like big butts and I can not lie'. My head snapped up and I payed attention. I was thinking to myself, 'Did he really just sing what I think he sang?' Sure enough...he did it again and again...only not quite right.

As any good mom would do, she'd ask him where he heard it first and then correct his lyrics. Because by all means, if you're going to sing that song while riding your bike, please sing it correctly! Your mama is a child of the 90's and all. Well, and the 80's. And before anyone freaks out, he heard it from the preview for The Chipmunks new movie and only sings the first 3 lines. But oh my goodness...it is honestly the funniest thing I've heard in a long time.

So baby, you keep singing those three lines and making your mama laugh over and over again.

Hammered out some skinny gold fill bands the other day and love how comfortable they are to wear! Seriously, I feel like I'm not even wearing rings...which is good for me. I wear gloves for a good part of the day, while working, and wearing my wedding band doesn't really work with gloves. So...now I feel like a married woman again with these bands on my ring finger!

Each band is 14k gold fill and about 1mm wide. They are all independent, so you can wear just one or all three.

These rose gold fill bar necklaces were all shipped up to Canada earlier this week. A lovely wedding photographer orders these for her brides, each hand stamped with their wedding date in roman numerals. Hope the brides love their special gift!

New Years is the time for renewal, resolutions, and resetting ourselves. At least for me it is.

I try to take a little mental break after the rush of the holidays. I slow my work down for a couple weeks and read a good book. Last night I finished Kristin Hannah's Nightingale and loved it. Staying up until 1 am...I didn't love so much. But, like all good reads into the middle of the night, it was worth it.

Along with those things for the new years, it's also a great time to set new goals. Whether they are work out goals, nutrition goals, mothering goals...they are all things that help us better ourselves. Or, at least we hope so, right?

Every year, I get customers who are ordering 'word of the year' jewelry. Rings, necklaces, and bracelets are ordered with one special word on them. Words that mean something to them, words that are their goals for the year. Here is a sterling silver bangle bracelet I finished up last week and I think the word is a great reminder. What is your word of the year?

Most have noticed or seen the wood block that I use in so many of my jewelry photos. Ever wondered why? I'll tell you.

Today would have been my dad's 60th birthday. He passed away just a couple weeks before his 43rd birthday and the wood block you see in my photos belonged to him.

When I first started my business, my brother gave me this wood box with a number stamp set in it. He said it was our dads, who used it to stamp numbers on engine parts. This old, greasy, wood box full of number stamps was something I would treasure forever and knew I wanted to incorporate it in my work.

So, from that day on, I started taking photos of my hand stamped jewelry on the lid of the box. I've had customers ask me where I got it and one even put in their order notes "please include the wood box with my order". Oh boy.

Every day, that little wood box sits by me as I work and in a way, my dad sits with me every day too. Knowing he used metal stamps years before I even knew what one was brings me a sense of peace and more love for what I do every day. I get to create pieces of jewelry that bring a smile, tear, or memory to someone's face.

For those who knew my dad, he was one of he hardest workers out there. He was also a goof ball to those who knew him best. And for those who know me best, I tend to carry on that goof ball trait quite well...and strive to be as hard working too.

So, today, in all the craziness of the Holiday rush orders, I'm taking a moment to say 'Happy 60th Birthday Dad. Miss you and love you! Know that you're always here by my side, in a old wood block.

The decision to quit Facebook wasn't a decision I made quickly or on a whim. I guess you could say I've been thinking and talking about it for months. Maybe even years. Anyone else ever feel like so much of our time, energy, and thoughts are taken up by Facebook? I sure was.

About a year ago I took Facebook off my phone. After finding myself checking it before sleeping, checking it first thing in the morning, and checking it when I should have been watching my kids play...I took it off my phone. I never regretted that decision and I don't think I'll regret deactivating my official Facebook either.

Last year, my friend and I made a pact to not check Facebook for a month. We did it. We went a month and then challenged each other to another month. So we spent a full day on Facebook (in between the two months) and successfully 'logged off' for 2 months. It felt great.

So, after months of being logged back on, the same feelings and thoughts kept creeping up on me. Thoughts about people that honestly, I don't really know. But I was thinking about them because they came up on my Facebook feed. Negative thoughts, annoyed thoughts, you name it...kept coming into my life. And you know what? I didn't like it. I didn't like feeling or thinking about all these things that I really didn't need to be feeling or thinking about. It was time to focus on my own life. My own personal goals and what it meant to me to be more present in my every day life.

My business account was one of the reasons that kept me saying to myself, 'You can't go off Facebook! How will customers find you? What if they have questions?'. Well, guess what? I realized that the customers and people who want to find me will. I'm not offline at all. I'm still very present here. I have an Etsy shop, with contact buttons. I have a Twitter account (Betsy_Farmer) that I barely use, but that will send me a message if I have one. I have an Instagram account (well, two actually...one for business, one for personal) that I LOVE. And I'm on Pinterest. Oh, and I do have an email account...two of those too. So, I'm still around. I'm here with multiple ways to contact me.

A few months back, I began reading "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying UP" and started you know, 'tidying up'. Then we went on vacation. Then summer started. Then school started. And the list goes on, right? The excuses go on. But the clutter remains. I thought that decluttering my home and space would help with the overwhelming feelings of always things to do and get done. But then I realized it's not just those things that needed cleaning up. My mind needed clearing. The little things needed to be cut out. The mind clutter. And sorry, but Facebook contributed to that mind clutter.

As a working mom, I have enough to focus on. Not only my business but all the other things that go along with being who I am. A wife, a mom, a daughter, a friend....those things need my attention. I do hope that no one takes me leaving Facebook personally. It's not personal to anyone but myself. Time is needed to focus on what's really important to me right now. Some may say that Facebook doesn't have to take up too much time. But if I added up all the times I would sit at my computer and check it because I had a spare 5 minutes...those 5 minutes really add up. Adds up to time I could be doing something much more productive, whether physically or mentally.

Maybe some day I'll activate my account again. If I do, all my photos will still be there and so will my friends. Or at least the friends who matter. The ones who don't mind that I'm not on Facebook. But for right now, at this time in my life, I'm good with this decision.

I'm looking forward to freeing my mind up. Freeing my time and being intentional about how I spend it. Freeing it from the clutter and focusing on what matters most. Like pumpkin spice lattes, a good book, and sweater weather.

This morning was one of those mornings. Those perfect, crisp, changing of seasons morning.

The spiders are spinning their webs. The fog takes a while to clear. Dew drops hang suspended on the branches. And the deer are trying to forage for the last of the summer veggies in the garden. All that was missing was a steaming cup of coffee...

If you watch the news or you live in the Pacific Northwest, then you probably know about the fires that are devastating a huge portion of our state(s).

My family lives in Central Washington and for the past couple weeks, well actually all summer it seems, I've been getting updates on all the fires over there. It's just been so hot, with no rain relief, for these firefighters.

I wanted to help in some way, so last week I ordered these special firefighter stamps. They arrived today and I made up a few designs to share with you. From now until the end of the month, I will be donating 25% of the proceeds to help the firefighters.

You can enter my shop up above or with this link HERE for the HERO necklaces.

My garden is definitely producing more this year than any year. Zucchinis lived up to their reputation. You know how someone will say, "Oh, you don't need more than one zucchini plant for your family."? Yeah..I've taken that advise too many years in a row with poor pollination and barely any zucchinis. This year was different. This year, I planted 4 zucchini plants.

Four zucchini plants resulted in loads and loads of the green stuff. I was thrilled to have plenty to share with my zucchini loving friends and neighbors this year. Lucky for me, I have plenty of them since my husband isn't a fan of the veggie. So, they were shared and then they were over abundant and then I ended up with piles of them because my friends didn't want anymore. Darn!

Thankfully there's good old Pinterest and I found this recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod. Her recipe for zucchini cookies sounded amazing and I only had to change a few things to suit my needs and what I had on hand.

First thing I changed was the coconut oil. The only coconut oil I have in my house is in my bathroom, to remove my eye makeup. I doubted it would be cool to have mascara or eyeshadow residue in the cookies, so I went with straight up room temp butter.

Second thing I changed was the coconut flakes. I didn't use sweeteend. I used plain organic flakes I had in my pantry.

Third thing I changed was I used 2/3 cup regular flour and 1/3 cup whole wheat. I'm always substituting part whole wheat in recipes around here.

Last, I didn't add very many chocolate chips. Don't assume I don't like chocolate but in my cookies, I like just a few chips per cookie. Not tons of chips. Obviously personal preference here.

This is my version.

Zucchini Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

4 T room temp butter

1/2 C brown sugar

1/4 C white sugar

1 egg

1 t vanilla

1 C shredded zucchini

2 C oats

1/2 C coconut flakes (I used unsweetened)

Chocolate Chips

Directions

directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a different larger bowl, mix butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla. Then, mix in the shredded zucchini.

4. Add flour mixture. Stir in oats, coconut, and as many chocolate chips as you prefer. These would be great with raisins too...which I may try next time

5. My dough was a little wet at this point, so I added a bit more whole wheat flour.

I am so late with this post. Our family took a trip to NYC in June, which if you follow me on Instagram, you already know about it. I wanted to share some of my favorite non-family pictures from the week we were there. We had such an amazing time together as a family. Our children are finally old enough to handle a big city vacation and we are so happy we chose NYC this year!

I'm really wanting to blow up a few of them and hang them in our house...just have to decide on which ones.

This morning, I wrapped up 30 'STRENGTH' necklaces heading out to a group of women back east. These women went in and bought these necklaces to support a friend who is going through a tough time. I gave them the wholesale discount but they are paying full price, with the difference going to help their friend. That's support and love right there.

I hope these necklaces bring some comfort to these women and help the one in need get through this tough time. Knowing that you are so loved, that so many people are there to help give you the strength you need is a lovely thing.

Almost 4 weeks ago, I was getting ready to head to Austin for Texas Style Council. Getting ready to meet a childhood friend, Sasha. Sasha was there as a sponsor and owns Outlaw Creative. We hadn't seen each other since she did my logo a few years ago, so we were pretty excited. Here are some random photos I took while down there. Wishing I would have taken my camera out more than I did but isn't that always the case when you're having fun?

A few weeks ago, when ordering more jewelry boxes, I decided to go back to the natural kraft color. Lighter for Spring. Combine that with the new cream and gold baker twine from Knot & Bow and I'm in love. Simple and Fresh.

Texas Style Council / CAMP .... I'm going!! I'm so excited to get the opportunity to head off to Austin in a couple weeks to meet some new, creative, and fun women.

My friend, Sasha, from Outlaw Creative, posted CAMP on her Instagram a few weeks ago. Naturally, I was curious to see what she was talking about and looked it up. Female Blogger and Business Owner retreat? Uhm...yes please! Glamping Style? Hum...double yes please! Getting the chance to hang out with a childhood friend and just chill for the weekend....I'm ALL IN!

So, here I am...about 2 weeks out from heading to camp and one of the hardest things is going to be leaving my family. And figuring out what to pack. And meeting new people. I'm not a fan of meeting new people, believe it or not. I clam up, I get nervous. Why do you think I sell my necklaces online? No face to face. I get to stay the hermit that I can be and still interact with wonderful customers on a daily basis. My hair doesn't have to be perfect. I can type, delete, and re-type what I want to say. It really is the perfect job. But, there becomes a point when you have to venture out of your bubble and meet new, creative friends, right? Well, that's what I fully intend to do down in Texas.